


Will It Applesauce?

by Dxlilith



Category: Rhett & Link
Genre: Angst, Infidelity, M/M, Mentions of Cancer, Not the happiest of endings but also not terrible either, Vague Medical Procedures, rhink, vague use of terminal illness as a plot device
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-05
Updated: 2021-02-05
Packaged: 2021-03-17 11:55:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,214
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29225034
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dxlilith/pseuds/Dxlilith
Summary: Rhett fainted the first time he heard he had herniated discs. Something that paled in comparison to being diagnosed with a terminal cancer. But he did not faint. He just sat there while Jessie clutched his arm and begged for an answer that would give him more time. He wouldn’t make it to the end of the year.
Relationships: Rhett McLaughlin/Link Neal
Comments: 8
Kudos: 18





	Will It Applesauce?

**Author's Note:**

> This is something I wrote instead of sleeping. It's a little sad, a little hopeful, a lot of poor plot development. A lot of this was also drawn on from personal experience and in no way meant to reflect anyone else's experience with cancer/illness.

“I’m afraid that in these sort of cases, your options are taking it into your own hands or medicated.”

Rhett fainted the first time he heard he had herniated discs. Something that paled in comparison to being diagnosed with a terminal cancer. But he did not faint. He just sat there while Jessie clutched his arm and begged for an answer that would give him more time. He wouldn’t make it to the end of the year.

Telling his family, his company, his fanbase, everyone except one person, was easy. There were tears and questions and gasps and so many looks of pity. “What about your boys?” Was particularly hard to handle. But nothing compared to telling Link. Nothing compared to the pools of tears forming in blue eyes that had been staring up at him since he was six.

“There’s gotta be somethin’. A transfer? Transfusion? Cut it all out, you don’t need all those organs!” He’s shouting at this point but that’s okay. Rhett specifically asked to meet at the creative house to have the privacy. To share in the greatest heartbreak of all time. Leaving Link behind.

They make the decision to end Good Mythical Morning three days later. They record one last Ear Biscuit but it’s only about twenty minutes long with Link refusing to speak. Kiko had to edit out a lot of silence.

The doctor is forthcoming, warm, sincere. He gets in touch with all the top professionals in several medical fields and collaborates on an aggressive plan of attack simply meant to keep Rhett going. He would have preferred to just die without all the ivs in him but both Jessie and Link beg him. Link had even gotten on his knees.

Mythical wouldn’t die. Something that brought a small comfort to Rhett. All of his shares would go to his wife and children, his control to Link and Stevie. Funding no longer put into GMM was funneled into Mythical Kitchen and several projects that had yet to see the light of day. Now only Rhett wouldn’t see them.

It’s three months in and Rhett is tired. Bone weary and done with all the vomiting and shitting himself. Of the peripherally inserted central catheter in his arm but still being poked and prodded and awoken from his ten minute bouts of sleep to have blood taken. Of the smells. The smells especially.

Link never leaves. Jessie has gotten into fights with him, accusing him of forgetting his own wife and children. Reminding him that she is in fact Rhett’s wife and therefore should be the one allotted overnight visitor every night and not just the one or two Link needed to wash his clothes. “Baby, it’s...it’s okay. I understand what you’re sayin’ and so does Link but, he’s my best friend.” Her face burns red as tears fill her eyes and it’s a look that does not move Rhett as much as he thought it would. Jessie starts leaving promptly at the end of visiting hours.

Five months in Rhett is bald. Not a single hair capable of growing on his body. Link shaves his head in the hospital room’s bathroom along with his eyebrows. He says “Now we both look like bowling pins!” Not once does he mention Rhett’s chin.

Five months and a half Rhett passes out in the middle of his kitchen floor. He isn’t found until almost an hour later because everyone was out back sharing the ribs he so lovingly smoked two days previous. It’s Lily that finds him, checks his vitals and looks for bumps. “I’m gonna get mom, you know dad is just gonna freak out.”

The doctor, Henry as he likes to be called because Rhett shouldn’t have to use formalities, informs him that the chemo was creating adverse effects on his body. “We’re going to take you off everything for at least a month. Give your body a chance to recoup. The cancer hasn’t lessen but it hasn’t metastasized any further.”

Jessie says she’s tired of being second fiddle. That she hasn’t felt this forgotten since they first moved out to LA and he and Link would sleep in the studio to finish projects. Rhett admits, “If I gotta choose, especially with on my way out? It’s always gonna be Link.” She cries herself to sleep and doesn’t speak to him for three days. When she does, she simply states “I understand.”

Rhett is almost at the year mark. He has lost a total of thirty pounds and can only ingest liquids without barfing. He feels like absolute dog shit but according to Henry and his latest scans, he’s gain another handful of months. Link brings with him a bunch of wigs and makeup. They record a bunch of stupid videos and laugh and laugh until the head nurse threatens to kick Link out of the ward.

“We’re supposed to die together. Or at least right after each other.” Link thinks Rhett has fallen asleep but he hasn’t. He’s just too weak to open his eyes. “Eatin’ bugs in an old folks home and leavin’ things in jello.”

“Will it applesauce?” Rhett whispers. Link’s laugh is abrupt, wet, and more like a sob than as result of humor. Rhett cannot bare it so he pulls on Link’s sleeve until he’s tucked into his arms. This makes Link cry even more so Rhett kisses his forehead. His cheeks. His tears. His jaw. His lips. Link kisses back. They kiss forever it seems until the night nurse comes in for a sample of blood. “Tsk, tsk, no hanky-panky on hospital property. This is NOT Grey’s Anatomy.” She’s laughing but wagging her finger.

They don’t talk about it. But now Link holds Rhett’s hand whenever they’re left alone. Rhett plays with Link’s hair, still too short to style but too long to not be noticed when he falls asleep. Christy walks in on it one morning with Rhett's favorite smoothie. She only smiles, eyes wet with tears she chooses to shed at a later time. "It's okay Rhett, I get it."

Henry is sitting on the other side of his desk. It's been a year and Rhett is still here. Barely. But alive. Jessie sits beside him, hands folded in her lap. “I was hesitant to share the news but I’ve run the tests twice. Three times. The counts are the lowest I’ve ever seen. I think you may actually be beating this.”

No one is more happy than Link who rips his shirt off and jumps off of every surface of his living room when he gets the news. Christy assumes the worst and sends the kids to their rooms before he lets out a holler. “RHETT’S NOT GONNA DIE!!!” Lando and Lincoln join him in jumping on furniture.

A year and thirty days and Rhett has the beginning of a beard. Jessie filed for divorced before his last treatment and it’s all settled and signed for by the time the picc line has been removed. It’s a hollow feeling, both the missing catheter and the ending of his marriage. Link kisses him so hard his lips bruise.

“So I didn’t die but realized something major.” Rhett’s holding Link’s hand on top of the desk. “Let’s talk about that.”


End file.
